Endlessly
by LadyMxdnight
Summary: Because everyone needs a happy ever after... Finnick survives, Annie's expecting and the Odair baby has both parents. Rated T because paranoia.


**Hellow people ^.^ This is my new story, **_**Endlessly**_**, which is basically a **_**what if Finnick didnt die?**_ **thing. Im making it a part of a series, and each story will be about a different couple from the Hunger Games-Sphere. This is also my first Hunger Games fanfic, and second story. I plan on making it about 15 chapters long, and focusing on Annies pregnancy and Finnick and her as parents... And so, without further ado, I give you peasants the first chapter of **_**Endlessly **_**: )**

_The whole world was a swirl of blackness, rippling in and out of crevices around her as Annie floated, or maybe she was sinking, in a sea of nothingness. She didnt quite know where she was, and for a split second she wondered if she was dead._

_Dont be silly, Annie. Why would you be dead?_

_Because the monster wanted to take off my head._

_Theres no monsters any more. Its all over..._

_Is it? Or has it just begun?_

_The dull thudding of her heart grew louder in the vast expanse of blackness, reassuring her of its existence. The emptiness beneath her turned into something soft and foamy frothy - bubbles? - and Annie giggled as they popped beneath her back. She tried to wiggle her fingers so she could pop more, but they wouldnt move and shed lost feeling in them. Never mind, the bubbles were still popping under her, making tinny noises as she moved her head from side to side. They smelt like sea salt._

_She sighed in content, breathing in deeply. She hadnt smelt sea salt in a long, long time. She liked this, floating around like driftwood with no worries, no fears, no monsters. Annie shut her eyes, but she felt like she was missing something... what?_

_Finnick._

_Something went wrong as the realization struck her. All at once, the sea salt in the air disappeared, replaced by a sickeningly familiar, stomach-lurching odor._

_Roses._

_And that wasnt all. The delicate swirls of black that were zipping past her were crumbling like ashes, with red taking its place. It actually looked familiar... Annie wondered where shed seen it before. Oh, it was that dress. The pretty one that the bird wore. What was the birds name? Something with K? But something was still wrong. Instead of glowing orange embers, the ashes fell to reveal a deep crimson shade. Blood red. It was bubbling, like lava, and Annie tried to shriek. Nothing came out._

_And then, there were faces. Emerging from the dripping blood all around her whilst she tried to scream and kick, to no avail. Her eyes widened as the different faces became clearer and clearer, triggering the memories of years ago that shed spent the past five and a half years trying to forget, as if they happened yesterday. _

_She suddenly became aware of all the noises around her. Screams for help, cries of mercy, sickening crunches of bones and the sound of tearing flesh. Annie shrieked, shoving her hands onto her ears in an attempt to block it all out and kicking her legs to get the blood off them. But there was a quiet, lulling sound cutting above the tortured noises coming to her ears - whispers. And as she stared at the variety of faces before her, helplessly screaming her head off, she could just make out their bleeding, battered lips moving slowly to form two syllables, over and over and over again._

_"Annie... Annie... Annie..."_

_"No!" She screamed, thrashing her limbs as tears began to stream down her faces. "No, stop! I didnt do anything! Please, please, no!"_

_But the whispers continued, and one face moved to right above her._

_"Remember me, Annie?" He snarled in a low voice, his kind, sparkling eyes now a cold, dead, grey. His face was contorted with pain, and to her horror as he stepped out of the curtain of blood, his head was being held up by his hands, his neck nothing but a stump spewing the red liquid Annie had grown to fear._

_"Apollo, please..." she started, trying to wipe the tears from her face._

_"You did this to me!" He exclaimed in a rough, gravelly voice unlike the Apollo she used to know._

_"No!"_

_"I protected you the whole time and this is how you let me go!" _

_"Please... please..." Annie begged, unable to form a coherent sentence as sobs racked her petite body._

_"Murderer!" He yelled, wielding a jagged dagger from his belt and raising it above her chest._

_The whispers grew louder. Annie screamed again, flailing her arms and legs and trying to wield off the knife in his bloody hands, but to no avail._

_"Youre going to die, the way you let me die!"_

_"No, no, thats not true!"_

_His menacing yet lifeless eyes stared down at her. With one hand, he clutched his head to his neck as the other plunged the dagger into her chest above her heart, and she screamed as life was drained from her, with the soundtrack to her death as the menacing whispers of her name._

_"Annie... Annie... Annie..." they jeered as she screamed, pain exploding her chest and life leaving her eyes till she sank, drowning in a pool of bloody nothingness._

"Annie!" A voice yells through her incessent screaming, and she thrashes her arms and legs around to ward it off, crying hysterically. "Annie, Annie, its okay! Youre okay, youre safe."

"Finnick!" She shrieks, as though he never spoke at all. "Finnick, help me!"

"Annie, baby, its Finnick," he soothes, grasping her hand in the dark. Being so many feet underground, theres no calming moonlight streaming in from the window - only the dim light from the hallway outside, coming from the one-way windows.

As she calms down, sitting up in bed and sobbing to herself, Finnick envelopes her in his arms as he rocks her back and forth, whispering familiarities in her ear till gradually the sobbing recedes to tears streaming down her face whilst she clutches him. The stiff mattress makes it difficult to keep rocking her, but he doesnt stop. It helps her, Mags had told him.

He strokes her hair softly, whispers to her what he always did when this would happen (_Your name is Annie Cresta, youre 22 years old, you grew up on the beach, you won the Hunger Games, youre safe with me..._) Gradually, her breath slows to a more relaxed pace and she stops clutching Finnick so tightly. He wipes a few stray tears from her cheeks and presses a kiss to the top of her hair, caressing her cheek with his calloused fingers.

"Are you okay?" He asks gently, stroking her hair with his other hand.

She nods after a minute of contemplation, placing her left hand over the one on her cheek, so he can feel the coolness of her wedding band on his skin . She buries her face into his chest, sighing softly. The thin t-shirt hes wearing is damp with her tears, and it worries him.

Annie hadnt been so shaken up since she found out they could be going back into the arena. He has no doubt that after he left and the nights that followed, she must have been in much worse condition than this, and it leaves a pang of guilt in his chest knowing how awful it wouldve been for her with neither him nor Mags to coax her back to sleep and assure her she was safe. And her being in the Capitol, with absolutely no one she knew except Johanna and Peeta - and that was only vaguely - it was too much for Finnick to bear, knowing it was inadverdently his own fault as he hadnt set any conditions for Annies safety being so preoccupied with Katniss and Peetas.

"Whats wrong, Annie?" He asks, not fooled at all. His fingers twirl a lock of her auburn hair absentmindedly, and he grips her hand with the other.

The mattress shifts as she pushes herself off his lap, holding both his hands and stroking his palms with her thumb. From the window they see a guard passing by with who appears to be Peeta in handcuffs behind him, and she purses her lips.

"Poor Peeta, they treat him like a fugitive now," she says softly, shaking her head slightly.

Finnick sighs. "Annie..."

She tentatively looks back at him, the same ocean green eyes that mirror her own, and she bites her lip. "Im worried."

He sighs again, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Ill be back soon, you know," he murmurs, gripping her hands.

"Will you?"

Her question makes him pause for a minute, as he carefully tries to form a good answer. As if reading her mind, she shakes her head.

"I dont want you to lie so I dont worry, Finn," she says.

He bites his lip, pulling her closer to him. "I never understood how you did that, you know. You always knew what I was going to say."

She looks at him, and he knows better than to beat around the bush. "Annie, my life isnt guaranteed out there, and you know it as well as I do."

Her face crumples, and Finnick mentally punches himself for wording it that way.

"Then dont go," she pleads, tears welling up in her foam-green eyes. "Stay with me."

Gazing into her eyes, hes half convinced to drop out of the mission tomorrow morning, but he shakes his head regretfully and sighs. "Darling, I cant. Were still in the Games, only now its us against Snow. And we cant afford to let Snow win, not again. Can you imagine how horrific life would be if they crush the rebellion for a second time? The first thing theyd do is kill all the victors, then the rebels like Plutarch and Coin. Theyd massacre all thats left of us, and then what would happen to the poor people that are left over? Theyd be punished for no reason. We cant let that happen."

Annie nods, but still wraps him in a bone-crushing hug all the same, and he starts rocking her again. "What about us, Finn?" She asks, and he closes his eyes and wishes he could just freeze this moment, never having to leave his wifes side again.

His wife.

It felt so amazing to finally be able to call her that, and to have his ring on her finger and her ring on his, tying them to each other endlessly. And he knew, without a doubt, he would do everything and more in his power to be able to wrap his wife in his arms again. He knew he would come back.

"Im coming back, Annie," he says, a new determination in his voice. "And once this is all over were going back to District 4. Were all going to donate the money we got from being Victors to the new Capitol, and theyre going rebuild all the districts with it. Well have a house on the beach, and a boat, and well fish and have picnics and swim and everything we couldnt do under Snow. Ill never have to leave you for another Capitol woman again, and well have a family, like we always said we would. Well finally be free, Annie."

Annie holds him tighter, but nods. "A family," she murmurs approvingly. "No Reaping Day."

"No Reaping Day," he repeats, nodding. "Our children will never have to worry about the Hunger Games, and will never have the threat of the Capitol over them. Nobodys children will. Well all be free at last."

Its enough convincing for Annie, knowing that should Finnick and the other rebels succeed, her children will never have to endure the horrors that she or their father did, and neither will any other children. She thinks of Katniss little sister, Primrose, whom shes been told to call Prim. Shed been reaped before Katniss volunteered, but what happened to the children that had no Katniss there for them? Her mind flashes to another young girl, who was too young to die. Rue. The poor girl would have been scarred for life had she miraculously made it out of the arena, but everyone knew there wasnt a chance of that. Her untimely death had left Annie in tears, and it just wasnt fair. And Annie was through with the unfairness of their world.

The couple spent the last few hours of their last night together for who knows how long in marital bliss, and by the early hours of the morning Annies head was on Finnicks bare chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart as he played with her hair with one hand and caressed her bare back with the other.

"Finnick?" She asks, tracing stars and words onto his chest.

He hums in response, setting a rumble through his body and she smiles to herself.

"Theyre going to move me back to the hospital tonight, you know."

He frowns, opening his eyes. "Of course they wont."

She rolls her own eyes, though he cant see as her head is still resting on his chest, and holds up the plastic medical bracelet on her wrist reading _mentally disoriented_. "The only reason Im not in there right now is because youre here with me. Once you leave theyll ship me back in five minutes."

Though Finnick knows this to be true, hes torn between what he should do. He wouldnt want Annie to be here on her own while hes away - itd be too much for her - but he doesnt want her in a hospital full of strangers either.

Only they wouldnt all be strangers, would they?

"The hospital isnt that bad," he remarks, and shes off his chest in a flash.

"You want me to go back there?" She asks, her eyes widening.

Finnick sighs, placing his hands on her soft, smooth shoulders and pulling her back down till her head is in the crook of his neck. "Darling, I dont want you anywhere but with me. But thats not an option, and I dont want you to be alone either. Especially since youre not well..."

That was another thing. For the past week or so, Annie had been throwing up every morning, and sometimes throughout the rest of the day, too. She said it was just the stale air that was getting to her, so he spent more time above ground with her, but she was still the same. She brushed his concerns off, saying she needed a little salt in the air and once they got home shed be fine. Finnick wasnt convinced.

"Im fine, Finn," she says, brushing her fingers through his hair. He pulls her closer to him as the hallway lights start to brighten outside, indicating that its 6 am, and breakfast will be in an hour.

"I still dont want you to be alone, Annie. At least youll know Mrs Everdeen in the hospital, and Prim and Johanna..." he trails off, as a thought strikes him. The hospital is close to the Command rooms, and thats where confidential things are, like, for example, the blueprints for the pods on the streets of the Capitol. And he wouldnt put it past Annie to sneak out of the hospital in her haze at night, and should she stumble across those rooms and see the things in there... shed die worrying about Finnick. "You know what? Maybe the hospital isnt such a good idea, I mean imagine all the strangers in there," he backtracks, earning a curious look from Annie.

She brushes his sudden change of heart aside though, because they dont have much time. "Thats what I was getting to, actually. Now that Katniss isnt here, theyre going to leave Johanna in the hospital. Why cant I just room with her? Wed both be able to skip the hospital, and Mrs Everdeen and Prim are right opposite us."

Finnick raises an eyebrow. Annie and Johanna, rooming together? "Love, I dont think you should be with Johanna for so long..."

"Finnick, I know Johanna can be a... difficult person-" Finnick snorts in amusement at the understatement "-but really, I think the both of us spending time together can help us. That whole façade she put up during her Games of being weak and unimportant - while we were in the Capitol, I realized it wasnt all a façade. We can help each other," she concludes.

Finnick isnt so sure. "She made you cover your ears and go off in one of your fits just a few days ago at lunch," he points out.

"That was different," she insists, looking up into his sea-green orbs. "Please, Finnick. Itll help both of us. And Mrs Everdeen will be right opposite us so Johanna can call her if I need help, even at night."

He tries to think of another option, but his mind is blank from exhaustion, worry and fear. Flashing back to the Capitol blueprints and their close proximity to the hospital, hes been sold. "Fine," he exhales, and Annie grins.

"I knew youd agree," she smiles, leaning up to catch his lips.

"I love you," he murmurs against her lips in between kisses, and she smiles.

"I love you, too," she says just as softly, before her hands find his hair and he flips them over, knowing this to be their own intimate farewell.

Its a bittersweet one, he knows, but hes determined to make sure its not their last goodbye for a long, long time.

**~: :~**

Later, after all the soldiers have left and Annies moving her things to Johannas compartment, which takes all of five minutes as all her possession fit into a backpack that Finnick left behind, is the first time she feels like throwing up that day.

And to her luck, Mrs Everdeen comes to check in on them just as shes emptying her breakfast into the toilet whilst Johanna surprisingly holds back her hair - a menial, gruff gesture that Annie appreciates a lot more than most would, considering this is Johanna.

"Feeling alright, dear?" Mrs Everdeen asks, once Annie is finished and sitting on the bed Katniss used last, drinking water to get the taste of bile and gruel out of her mouth.

She nods, giving the empty glass to Johanna and getting off the saggy bed. Honestly, 13 really needed to improve their living conditions. Everything was on an extreme, even the mattresses on the beds were either so stiff they felt like wood or so floppy they were practically jelly. "Im fine, Mrs Everdeen, thank you."

The older woman waves away the formality with a smile. "Call me Clara. Johanna does, too."

"Clara," Annie repeats, pulling Finnicks bag onto the bed. It seemed a rather old name for Katniss and Prims mother, but Annie remembered that Clara had been born into a merchants family. Most of the well-off people in any district had preferred giving their children names - take her own name, Annie, for instance, or even Johanna.

"Is this the first time youve thrown up?" Johanna asks.

Annie shakes her head. "Its been going on for about a week now. Its probably just a stomach bug though," she hurriedly adds as Clara raises her eyebrows.

Johanna and Clara exchange a look, before Clara turns back to Annie. "Well, dear, most stomach bugs dont last for more than a week, and nobody else seems to have come down with anything. If this goes on longer, would you mind dropping by the hospital for some tests?"

Annie looks unsure, and the conflict is on her face. She hates hospitals.

"Ill let you know if theres anything to worry about," Johanna tells her, because Clara is one of the only people whos feelings Johanna can bring herself to care about, being the nurse who helped her after she was rescued from the Capitol.

"Thank you," she smiles gratefully at Johanna. She then has to go back to the hospital, she says, and she leaves, shutting the door behind her.

"Why does she think Im sick?" Annie asks, sitting back down on the bed.

Johanna gives her an impish smile, flicking the light switch on. "My darling Annie, you have no idea, do you?"

She raises her green eyes to meet Johannas hazel ones. "No idea about what?"

The older girl laughs, flopping down next to Annie and bouncing the mattress. She frowns. "How does Katniss even sleep on this thing?" she asks, gingerly poking the sagging mattress with a grimace.

"No idea about what, Johanna?" Annie repeats, emptying the contents of the bag onto the bed.

Johanna stays silent. She knows from Finnick that Annie has a fairly short attention span, courtesy of her instability. And sure enough, as the two sit in silence Annie doesnt ask again, and her focus is on the contents of the bag.

A silky, sea green dress tumbles out of the bag, rolled up. Johanna ignores the question, watching as Annie strokes the soft material, no doubt reminiscing her wedding day. Her ring glints in the light, and she unrolls the dress to reveal a collection of things.

"Finnick kept these for me," she says, spreading them out for Johanna to see, biting her lip. Theres two photographs from their wedding day that Plutarch insisted on developing for them. One is in a frame, and its from when they were at the alter, touching each others lips with salt water. In District 4, people would use sea water but here, deep underground, salt stirred into plain water had to do.

The other photograph is from when they were dancing. The refugees from District 12 had insisted on the couple getting their own dance, much to the chagrin of Coin and pure delight of Plutarch. And so they had danced, the way Mags had shown them what was called slow-dancing. A year ago, on a stormy night at Mags house, thered been a music show on TV and shes taught the couple how to dance to slow songs, making them promise to do so when they wed. And as they had slow-danced that day, both of them had tears in their eyes, because Mags wasnt there to see them.

"Shed have told you how beautiful you look," Finnick had whispered to her, and she smiled.

"And shed have told you how proud she was of you," Annie had said back to him.

And then Beetee had taken a picture of them, smiling and slow-dancing with tears in their eyes.

"You both had the best wedding any one in 13 had ever seen," Johanna comments. Its unlike her to be saying nice things like this, but after witnessing Annie and Peeta being tortured in the Capitol - and being tortured herself with electricity - shed developed a sort of soft spot for them.

Well, that or she was going through morphling withdrawal.

She preferred to think the latter.

Annie smiled softly. "Thank you, Johanna."

Theres more things on the bed, of course, and Johanna fingers the odd trinkets that obviously mean more to Annie than anything.

Theres an old, worn bracelet too. The string is browned and on the verge of breaking, and shells are threaded through them.

"Wasnt that Finnicks token from his games?" Johanna asks, and Annie nods. "And you wore the same one during yours, too." Seeing the bracelet on Annies wrist 5 years ago, and seeing Finnick and Mags literally loosing their minds getting Annie out of the Arena was how Johanna had realized the couples relationship.

Annie just nods. "I used to make those a lot. When Finnick was reaped, I saw him at the Justice Building before he left. I gave it to him, I asked if he would wear it as his token. He agreed, though I didnt think hed actually keep it. I was just some little girl back then, the one he and his friendsalways saw on the beach with her shells. He gave it to me when I was reaped."

Johanna is silent for a minute. "Were you reaped on purpose?" She finally asks.

Annie looks up. "Finnick thinks so."

They dont say anything else, just looks through Annies things. Theres a handful of pearls - she says that when Finnick went diving, hed find them for her. A pouch full of dried flower petals, from a bunch Finnick had once picked up for her.

There are some old necklaces and rings, that Mags gave her the morning of the reaping. They were family heirlooms, and since Annie and Finnick were her only family now, they were hers. Though they have jewels embedded in them and are made of precious metals, theyre delicate, unlike the extravagant Capitol pieces.

Theres also and old coin, that Mags had given her after her Games. She told Annie that whenever she was slipping, it would bring her back. Shed clutched onto it a lot after Finnick and Mags were reaped again.

A bunch of cards is also there, tied with another shell bracelet. Theyre all home made - shop bought ones were only available in the Capitol, and anyway, people in the districts preferred making their own personal touches on things - but as Johanna rifles through them, she can see the sentimental value. There are birthday cards from Annies deceased parents, with flowers pressed into them and messy writing stating their love for her, cards from Finnick with poems, and papers from Mags with letters that feel too personal to read.

And lastly, theres a gold bangle with flames on it that Johanna recognizes all too well.

"He wanted me to keep it. In case he didnt- he didnt-" Annie starts to say, but her voice cracks. "He wanted me to remember why he had risked everything for the spark we all saw."

They are silent again, and Johanna feels like she should say something, but she was never good with emotional support.

Annie knows this of course, and clutches onto her hand. She smiles through her tears, and Johanna squeezes her hand back.

"Hell be back, you know. You should have seen him during your Games. I swear, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack for the whole time, till the last cannon sounded and you were out of that place. Hed never leave you on your own," she assures Annie.

After a minute, Annie speaks up. "Im glad youre here, Johanna."

She doesnt know what to say, so she doesnt say anything. She lets her mind drift off, and she suddenly remembers Claras little visit.

Could Annie be pregnant?

**And there you have it! Id really appreciate any feedback whatsoever, and an suggestions/constructive criticism are welcome : ) **  
**-Kisses, A ^.^ oopswrongfandomsorrylmao**


End file.
